Food Bank Challenge Journal by Bougainvillea

[Bougainvillea]

Okay, my real name is Karen, but try finding a user name that hasn't been chosen. I kept trying, then looked out my window at the bougainvillea on my balcony. So, who among you is surprised that such an unwieldy name was still available?

I'm 61 years old, started working on transitioning to a plant-based diet at the beginning of this month, and stopped taking all of my medications and supplements to go cold turkey into the McDougall program as of August 13, 2017.

I am 5' 5" and had gotten up to 228 pounds last year. Over this last year, I went down to 206 pounds, but my blood tests were still bad, even on medication. I felt terrible, my knees were going out on me after a strenuous move without moving help, but I just felt like I was falling apart and during a heat wave shortly after I moved, I felt like I was having a heart attack more than once. I'm stubborn, so I didn't go to the hospital, but I realized I needed to, as the movie says, "get busy livin' or get busy dyin." I decided I wanted to live and to figure out how to be healthier.

Weighed 206 when started transition to plant-based diet beginning of August.

Weighed 204 on August 13th - when stopped taking all meds and supplements and went completely plant based - BUT - I had a nice batch of homemade basil pesto made with olive oil I had to finish before letting go of my oil. Ate whole wheat pasta with the pesto a couple times a week.

August 29th - no more oil!

Weigh 200 today, August 30th.

I haven't been this light in many, many years! I was so excited this morning. When I go to 199, which should just be a few days, I'm buying myself some champagne!

I am a super low-income senior on SSI. I am blessed to have subsidized housing in a nice building in San Jose, CA, and to have an old Nissan truck that runs like a charm and is paid for.

I've been subsisting on food bank food for many years now. In San Jose, we're blessed with lots of fresh produce and veggies, which many food banks don't have to give. What they all do have to give, no matter where you live, though - are beans, rice and potatoes, which I used to give away. They do also give you canned veggies and fruit.

You will also always get lots of highly processed food like mac and cheese, and lots of left-over pastries and breads.

I used to blame the food bank food for my obesity. Funny now, isn't it?

What's really great about living in a rich area, is that the food banks here actually do their best to provide more wholesome foods. We get food from Trader Joe's and even Whole Foods. But, even from other sources, we are provided with whole wheat spaghetti and brown rice usually, instead of white. And they always give us corn tortillas.

I used to have choices of breads at other food banks, and would always go for the sour dough, which I love. But honestly, there were always loaves of whole wheat bread and I chose not to eat them.

At the food bank I go to in San Jose, there is a table outside where people put the food they don't want. I immediately get rid of all of the stuff i can't eat. I am feeding the meat and tuna to my dog, if I need it. But, last week I gave a very happy man my chicken. He also wanted my potatoes, but I said nope, but you can have my eggs

What's working for me: I love Mexican food. So, I have been making up a huge batch of a goulash mixture of whatever veggies I get from the food bank, lentils, beans and brown rice. I heat up corn tortillas in a hot skillet by first running them under water, then into the hot pan - no oil.

I splurge on fresh tomatoes and fresh cilantro to put into my tacos. I otherwise have been making soup out of lentils, beans and veggies and rice. Eating fruit for snacks (free from food bank - pears and plums and oranges right now).

And I can't let go of my evening cocktail - I admit it! Gin and tonic. Just drank 1/2 last night and may not finish the one I have next to me tonight.

Can't let go of my morning coffee yet - just one cup.

Finally figured out how to eat potatoes without oil or butter on them, but they're still not my favorite. Last night boiled some up and put a big bunch of fresh tomatoes cut up in the bowl with them and alternated between eating a dry piece of cooked potato (with a little salt on it) and a juicy bite of tomato.

But, I think legumes and corn tortillas are going to be my go-to staple. I just put some brewer's yeast in the taco under the mixture, instead of cheese.

It's actually been way easier to live without cheese than I thought it would. As long as I can have my corn tacos, I think I can do this. And it's so much cheaper to supplement what I get from the food bank. I've only had to purchase brewer's yeast, fresh tomatoes and cilantro, tortillas when I run out of free ones, and I bought some frozen chopped spinach to add more green leafy veggie to the mix.

I am not a very good cook, and unfortunately, almost all of the recipes I've seen for this type of diet just look overwhelming to me - just too new and different. They make me feel panicked that I'll never succeed at this. But, then I reminded myself that all I have to do is eat like the native Mexicans ate or any of the primitives - just simple food. I can do that. Beans, rice, tortillas, with some available veggies thrown in, and I'm good. I can also make a soup out of just about anything, and I like soup. So, for now, that's working and they're familiar and easy.

Blood pressure was high at the dentist office yesterday 168/86 (off Losartan since August 13th). But, I watched the Dr. McDougall video about using the English standard for when they advise medication (160/100 if I remember correctly), and I'm going to give my body time to heal itself rather than start taking my meds again, which my friend insisted I do last night. She scared me, so I took a Losartan and almost immediately felt sick - I had been feeling great when she called LOL. So, no more Losartan for me. I'm going to trust the diet and my body to heal itself, and we'll see how it goes. I have high hopes.

[greentea]

You're doing great Karen! Ignore the fancy recipes, keeping it simple is the way to go. I love cooking, but most days I will eat steamed potatoes, sweet potatoes, along with some other steamed veggie, beans, rice, oats, fruit, soups & salads. I'm always satisfied with these plates of food.

[SilverDollar123]

Hi Karen,I like your flowery name.Maybe call you Bg for short. You seem to be doing great and doing the program pretty
well.Keep up the good work & keep posting. RAS

[Anna Green]

Hello! My favorite thing is usually a soup or stew though I dabble with other dishes. You do what works for you and enjoy it. If you haven't seen it already in the recipe section of this board there are recipes with just a few ingredients because many eat very simply.
Congrats on getting off your meds! That is huge!

[Bougainvillea]

Thank you so much everyone! Okay, update!

Just to remind - I started vegan on August 13th, no oil as of August 29th. Last time my blood pressure was checked was on August 29th at dentist and it was 168/86.

9/7 Had my blood pressure checked at the local Walmart, after walking all over Walmart and while standing and talking to the pharmacy tech (in other words, not ideal conditions LOL) and my bp was:

119/104

Then, went to a CVS Pharmacy about a half hour later, and used their sit-down automatic machine and took several readings over about 20 minutes:

125/86 pulse 80
114/84 pulse 80
118/85 pulse 77

Pretty incredible!

And, as of today, I weigh 197 lbs. So, since August 13th, when I weighed 204 pounds, I've lost 7 pounds!

Now this is interesting:

From August 13th - August 29th, I was still eating olive oil a few times a week. During those 16 days, I lost 2 lbs.

From August 29th - September 10th, after stopping all oils, in those 12 days, I lost 5 pounds!

So, remove the oil and lose twice as much!

I just had my blood drawn on Friday. I'm really excited to see the difference in blood sugar and cholesterol. Will post the results when I get them.

This is simply incredible!

I'm slowly learning how to cook differently. I learned that if I cook cut up potatoes in veggie broth, and add some salt to them while they're wet, I don't miss eating them without them swimming in butter. But, all potatoes are not equal! You need yummy, buttery potatoes to eat them like that.

Tonight I tried making a french toast with just soaking a piece of bread in some almond milk and frying it without any butter or oil. It was almost a success lol. I should have left it alone longer before trying to turn it over. But, it tasted great with a little real maple sugar on it. I was dying for something sweet besides fruit. Not bad. Whole wheat bread with almond milk and some maple syrup - still probably only around 200 calories and no oil or fat (of any significance - even though the almond milk has a little).

So, I'm very encouraged. My doctor tried to pressure me into going back on my meds, but I messaged her my new bp readings, and am hoping the blood tests shock her, too

None of my doctors EVER talked to me about changing my diet. Not one. They all acted like, yeah, you are getting older, it's normal to need medications. That's sad.

I wish we'd go to a national government paid healthcare system in the US, so there would be incentive to take the cheaper road - and suggest changes in diet before resorting to medications.

Anyway, I'm a very happy camper! Been watching tons of webinars and reading every McDougall book I can order through my library. I've read many of the others, too. But, I like McDougall best because it's affordable. I can afford potatoes and lentils and corn tortillas and rice and a few veggies. So many of the other programs require foods that are just out of my price range - like getting healthy is only for the elite. For that, especially, I thank John and Mary McDougall.

[nicoles]

Thank you so much everyone! Okay, update!

Just to remind - I started vegan on August 13th, no oil as of August 29th. Last time my blood pressure was checked was on August 29th at dentist and it was 168/86.

9/7 Had my blood pressure checked at the local Walmart, after walking all over Walmart and while standing and talking to the pharmacy tech (in other words, not ideal conditions LOL) and my bp was:

119/104

Then, went to a CVS Pharmacy about a half hour later, and used their sit-down automatic machine and took several readings over about 20 minutes:

125/86 pulse 80
114/84 pulse 80
118/85 pulse 77

Pretty incredible!

And, as of today, I weigh 197 lbs. So, since August 13th, when I weighed 204 pounds, I've lost 7 pounds!

Now this is interesting:

From August 13th - August 29th, I was still eating olive oil a few times a week. During those 16 days, I lost 2 lbs.

From August 29th - September 10th, after stopping all oils, in those 12 days, I lost 5 pounds!

So, remove the oil and lose twice as much!

I just had my blood drawn on Friday. I'm really excited to see the difference in blood sugar and cholesterol. Will post the results when I get them.

This is simply incredible!

I'm slowly learning how to cook differently. I learned that if I cook cut up potatoes in veggie broth, and add some salt to them while they're wet, I don't miss eating them without them swimming in butter. But, all potatoes are not equal! You need yummy, buttery potatoes to eat them like that.

Tonight I tried making a french toast with just soaking a piece of bread in some almond milk and frying it without any butter or oil. It was almost a success lol. I should have left it alone longer before trying to turn it over. But, it tasted great with a little real maple sugar on it. I was dying for something sweet besides fruit. Not bad. Whole wheat bread with almond milk and some maple syrup - still probably only around 200 calories and no oil or fat (of any significance - even though the almond milk has a little).

So, I'm very encouraged. My doctor tried to pressure me into going back on my meds, but I messaged her my new bp readings, and am hoping the blood tests shock her, too

None of my doctors EVER talked to me about changing my diet. Not one. They all acted like, yeah, you are getting older, it's normal to need medications. That's sad.

I wish we'd go to a national government paid healthcare system in the US, so there would be incentive to take the cheaper road - and suggest changes in diet before resorting to medications.

Anyway, I'm a very happy camper! Been watching tons of webinars and reading every McDougall book I can order through my library. I've read many of the others, too. But, I like McDougall best because it's affordable. I can afford potatoes and lentils and corn tortillas and rice and a few veggies. So many of the other programs require foods that are just out of my price range - like getting healthy is only for the elite. For that, especially, I thank John and Mary McDougall.

You are doing so great!!! I am so excited for you!

I hate the way weight loss it always presented as only for the elite, too. It's such an amazing thing the McDougall's have done here.

[Bougainvillea]

Thank you Nicole

Update: Blood test results. I'm actually disappointed. But, the good news is, I now have a baseline without medications. And, since my blood pressure has come down significantly already, I trust my system is healing itself and the numbers should improve.

Here are my last blood test results from when I was taking high blood pressure, high cholesterol medication, Omega-3 fish oil prescription, and the generic form of Prilosec, along with Vitamin D prescription and Magnesium-Oxide prescription. I quit all animal products and quit taking all meds on August 13th, except fish oil - have been oil-free (including the fish oil supplement) and nut and seed free since August 29th.

So, when they took my blood Friday, I had only been oil-free for 10 days, but animal free for 24 days:

March 2017 (on prescription meds), followed by new test results taken Sept 8th, 2017:

fasting glucose: 105 - 106

cholesterol: 222 - 267

HDL: 70 - 46

LDL: 134 - 170

triglycerides: 92 - 253

Something else to consider, is that the earlier blood test was taken mid-March, and I moved mid-May and my diet worsened after I moved - eating a LOT more cheese. So, who knows how high everything actually was before I started the McDougall diet

So, not the instant miracle I was hoping for, but as I say - now I have a baseline with no "noise" - no meds or supplements. Whatever happens from here, will just be my diet.

[Bougainvillea]

Lost 4 lbs this last week. But, that was coming back from fluctuating back up to 198 from 194 - I'm just back where I'd gotten to.

Oddly, when I tried to eat more veggies (without starch at every meal), I gained weigh back! I decided to just eat the approved foods and not be hungry - and voila! Lost the weight magically! I think it's still hard for my brain to accept that I really get to eat starch at every meal or not be hungry LOL. I'm learning.

At my size 5'5" and 61 years old, I'm still at that point where I can eat a lot and still lose weight. I'm just going to enjoy that for now.

This last week, what I've typically eaten is:

4 tacos for breakfast with homemade corn tortillas (made with organic masa flour from Bob's Red Mill, since I'm getting paranoid about GMOs) . These are small tortillas and I put chopped fresh cilantro and chopped fresh tomatoes and a mixture of rice, beans, cooked veggies like squash and peppers, inside each one.

Lunch - homemade soup with beans or potatoes or lentils and veggies, sometimes with some bread to dip in it, if I'm super hungry. This week it was creamy tomato lentil soup with unsweetened almond milk and pureed cooked carrots to make it "creamy" and chunks of tomatoes in it.

Dinner - pasta with simple tomato sauce and/or wheat bread toasted and dipped in some of the lentil soup.

My vice: a gin and diet tonic cocktail

Before bed - sometimes if I'm hungry before bed, I eat a very tiny bowl - maybe 1 cup - of shredded wheat and almond milk, sweetened with Stevia.

I've quit all pain meds, so I'm not willing to give up my gin and tonic yet.

I'm also walking more and have been much more active cooking and canning, which not only makes me hungrier, but adds to the pain factor. So, I'm just eating more of the accepted foods and enjoying my evening cocktail. So far, it all seems to be going okay, though. Canned up a huge amount of plain celery broth from a ton of free celery I got at the local food bank. Veggie broth in the stores is so expensive! And I use it in everything. Enjoying learning how to cook vegan.

[SilverDollar123]

The creamy tomato soup sound yummy! Do you have the recipe? Would love to try it. RAS

[Gwen]

Hi Karen,
I run my church's food pantry. We get/give out some government commodity foods along with our regular foods. The past couple years, we've been getting whole wheat pasta and brown rice, so that's a big improvement. But we also get cheese, mac & cheese, frozen eggs, milk, and meats, so those aren't the best. But we do also get canned & dried fruits, canned veggies, and dried beans.

There's been a weird change in the commodity foods though....I used to be able to order which ones I wanted to give out, but now, they just send it all to me, whether I want it or not. I don't like that, but must abide by the rules.

I try to give out the most nutritious foods, but honestly, some of those get put back in my donation bins. I do the best I can with what I can get.

So I think it would be hard to eat really healthy eating only foods from the food pantry.
Glad to hear of your successes.
Gwen

[Bougainvillea]

The creamy tomato soup sound yummy! Do you have the recipe? Would love to try it. RAS

I just used what was in the cupboard to make the soup, which is what I kind of have to do for most of what I eat because I live on food bank food mainly LOL. It's kind of like, hmmmm, what can I make with these ingredients?

The next time I make it, I'll pay attention to what I do, so I can write a simple recipe and post it.

But, basically, I first sprouted the lentils, so I wouldn't fart so much LOL. Soaked them overnight in distilled water (our tap water is too hard and they won't sprout or get soft in it). So, soak them overnight, then drain them and I put them in my broiler pan tray, cover with wet paper towels, and leave on the counter overnight so they will just start to sprout - you can just barely see a little nib coming out of some of them.

This takes some planning ahead, as it's one night to soak, then another night to sprout, but is worth it to me. You could probably get away with just cooking them slowly on the stove - but be sure your water is soft water, or the lentils won't soften. Learned this the "hard" way ....groan

Then, they also cook fast, if you soak and sprout - around 30 minutes simmering. You need to watch them because they can end up mushy pretty quick. I cook them in distilled water, too - basically with the water being an inch higher than the lentils in the pot. Cook until soft.

Then, I put in a big can of diced tomatoes including the juice in the can.

I wanted it thicker, so I had some canned carrots and I drained them (save the water for other soup!) pureed the carrots in the blender, and added the pureed carrots to the lentil soup. It was a large jar I'd home-canned of diced carrots - a pint and a half jar. Which would equal two regular sized cans of sliced or cubed carrots you'd buy at the store, roughly. Or you can just cook some carrots (peel first so they don't taste like the skins) and then puree them.

I have found the pureed (blended) carrots to be a great way to thicken and sweeten any recipe, including spaghetti sauce. Also, adds a pretty orange color.

I then added unsweetened almond milk until it looked the color I wanted.

I added some salt and some cumin, if I remember correctly. Maybe even a little ginger. But, it really didn't need much spice.

I just kind of wing it when I cook - sometimes it fails miserably. But, this one turned out really good. And these ingredients are almost always in my cupboard.

By the way, I've also discovered that using the water in canned corn kernels is another great way to sweeten a recipe.

Another tip - if you overcook lentils and the skins kind of separate and you don't like them that way, just put them in the blender and make it a creamy lentil soup. I had a big batch turn out like that, and I just pureed the whole thing and then froze it in freezer bags, and used it as a base for making "instant" soup. Throw the lentil puree into a bowl, add some water/broth from veggie cans, that I save in jars in the fridge. Throw in whatever veggies sound good, and into the microwave it goes.

I always have a bunch of pint jars with veggie juice and veggies from partially used canned veggies I've opened in the fridge. I feed them to my dog, too. A little rice, a little corn, hmmmm, how about some carrots, spinach....a little of this a little of that, change up the spices and voila!

I digress and ramble...

[Bougainvillea]

Hi Karen,
I run my church's food pantry. We get/give out some government commodity foods along with our regular foods. The past couple years, we've been getting whole wheat pasta and brown rice, so that's a big improvement. But we also get cheese, mac & cheese, frozen eggs, milk, and meats, so those aren't the best. But we do also get canned & dried fruits, canned veggies, and dried beans.

There's been a weird change in the commodity foods though....I used to be able to order which ones I wanted to give out, but now, they just send it all to me, whether I want it or not. I don't like that, but must abide by the rules.

I try to give out the most nutritious foods, but honestly, some of those get put back in my donation bins. I do the best I can with what I can get.

So I think it would be hard to eat really healthy eating only foods from the food pantry.
Glad to hear of your successes.
Gwen

Yes, it really depends on the food pantry as far as getting healthy food. But, I've experienced the same thing, where we have a table out front where people can put what they don't want. I used to put my whole wheat pasta there, ha ha, and now I grab up all of the ones other people don't want to eat.

What I do now, is I give the milk and eggs to whoever wants them. The healthy meat and the canned tuna, I give to my dog. When I cook my rice, I mix it 1/2 and 1/2 brown/white, as I usually get more white than brown, but I have also found that white rice is better at soaking up sauces, etc., so I kind of like making it 1/2 and 1/2 anyway.

And there are usually canned veggies that are good, and even healthy cereals and breads, and rice and beans. The trick for me, is to just do all of my sorting right there at the pantry, so nothing that's not healthy or too many calories goes home with me.

My biggest challenge is vegetables. I'd eat a lot more than I do, but they're expensive even here in CA. At least to eat half of my food that way. I've started sprouting my own lentils for greens.

[Bougainvillea]

Blood pressure update: Took it at the free machine at the CVS pharmacy again and it was down to:

111/83! Wahoo! Remember, my first bp reading after just starting this diet and going off my bp medicine was 168/86.

Then, I went shopping next door at the grocery, and carrying around heavy bags, then realized I'd forgotten to check my pulse on the machine, so went back and my BP was all over the map, but still lower than it's been for a long time, without meds:

127/87 pulse 80
128/101 pulse 81 (what?)
115/90 pulse 82

They probably wonder what's up with the lady sitting at the bp machine for half an hour ha ha.

Goes to show that your bp changes within minutes, though, so just because your doctor catches it at a particular moment at one reading, it probably isn't always that way. Of course, a super high reading does mean you need to watch out.

But, I haven't had a reading this low in a very long time - years and years. And this is without meds, so I'm thrilled.

Giving blood next week, so I can get a free hemoglobin and cholesterol test LOL. Plus, of course, doing a good thing for mankind

[amandamechele]

Hi Karen,

I'm just checking in with you to see how you're doing?

Amy

[Bougainvillea]

Hi Amy! Thanks for checking in. My life got crazy for a minute there, but things are looking up again. Fortunately, I kept McDougalling through it all. And even lost a pound or two.

At blood mobile, my blood pressure was great - forget exactly, but something like 123/81, my hemoglobin was great at 14.2, so getting plenty iron, etc.

I'm still heavy enough to give double red cells (you have to have a big body mass to give double red), and I have O negative blood, which makes them drool, so when I said I had time to give double red if they wanted me to - they were thrilled.

Took a couple days for them to post my cholesterol count in my account online, and granted it's just the total cholesterol, and I had eaten a big plate of food before I went - but my cholesterol was way higher! Around 275 - forget exactly.

I'm guessing it's from losing weight, and quitting statins on August 13th, but dang! Since I feel amazing, with tons of energy, etc., and everything else is great - bp and healthy red blood - I'm just going to trust that it will all even out eventually.

But, I do admit, that I'm really disappointed with my cholesterol still being so high - and going higher!

My doctor did order blood tests again for me (she doesn't know about the blood bank results yet lol), and I have a doc appointment in December to discuss my blood test results. So, I'll wait until the first week of December - another month - before I go have my blood tested. Then, depending on the results, I may postpone the doctor appointment lol. I don't want to sit there while she tries to convince me to go back on statins, and I try and convince her to trust that this is going to work. Ugh.

Also, I have signed up for two warm water exercise classes - Wednesdays for basic conditioning, and Fridays for low back conditioning, where we will work on strengthening abdominals, etc. (I have back problems). I'm hoping the exercise will help with the triglyceride levels, as I recall Dr. McD said exercise can help, if I remember correctly. And of course, just because it will be good for me for many reasons. I have learned that exercise does not help me lose weight, so I'm not expecting that. It just makes me hungry and then I eat more LOL. But, it's still good for many reasons.

I also signed up for an Indian cooking class for vegetarian foods. I'm going to learn how to make Chole Bature and Biryani. From the class description: "Chole is a spicy chickpea curry which is accompanied by Batura, a large deep-fried puffed bread. We will also prepare delicious vegetable biryani, a rice dish cooked with veggies and spices. This is a vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free class."

Obviously, I won't be making the deep-fried bread (though I may have to try it lol). But, I'm excited to learn how to cook with Indian spices.

I've blown my budget on these classes, but I needed to do it for my health and happiness. And I'm glad I did.